Posts Tagged ‘Parlovr’

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Ladyhawk are back. No, the other Ladyhawk.

KillbeatIt was pretty fun times to be an artist named for (or almost named for) a Matthew Broderick vehicle back circa 2007/2008. Pip Browne was turning heads with her hooky, ’80s synthpop-referencing tunes from all the way in New Zealand as Ladyhawke and in Canada, four guys were making a name for themselves with hooky, ’70s bar rock-referencing tunes from all the way in Kelowna. Hard to confuse the two (unless you were the guys in this story), but it was interesting that both were active at the same time and then basically disappeared around the same time in 2009, neither taking advantage of the other’s inactivity to increase their Ladyhawk/e identity mindshare.

But while Ladyhawke’s disappearance was because of a prolonged process of recording album number two, Ladyhawk went on a proper hiatus after finishing with their second album Shots, with frontman Duffy Driediger putting together a new outfit in Duffy & The Doubters, bassist Sean Hawryluk pulling time in Baptists, and drummer Ryan Peters and guitarist Darcy Hancock recording as SPORTS. Fast-forward to 2012, though, and they’re back. Both of them.

Ladyhawke released Anxiety back in May, and Ladyhawk will let their third album No Can Do out of the pen on October 9. Note how the two records look nothing alike and most certainly don’t sound anything alike (a track from the new record is available below for reference). Possibly creating some genuine confusion is the fact that both artists are touring North America thisFall, though fully a month apart. Toronto gets Ladyhawke (the feminine article) September 15 at The Hoxton, and Ladyhawk (the band of bros) on October 25 at The Horseshoe ($15 in advance). I suppose it’s conceivable that you could get those two venues mixed up, but I really hope you don’t. Unless you’re the guys from London.

Pitchfork has got a new song from Yamantaka/Sonic Titan, recorded for Adult Swim’s Singles Series, available to download. And if you’ve had trouble finding their YT/ST album in stores – despite it being Polaris shortlisted, they’ve been label-less since March – fear not; they’ve just signed to Paper Bag Records, who will be reissuing it and making it available pretty much everywhere on September 11.

Torq Campbell of Stars gets all fired up about topics political with The Huffington Post. Their new record The North is out September 4 and they open up for Metric at the Air Canada Centre on November 24.

Claire Boucher – aka Grimes – also has some thoughts on politics of the Russian variety, which she shares with NME. She has two nights booked at Lee’s Palace on September 21 and 22 and has just released another wacky-ass video from the Polaris shortlisted and heavily-favoured Visions.

Also playing that Paper Bag anniversary show at the Great Hall on the 29th are Young Galaxy; Stephen Ramsay discusses with Spinner the changes of direction that will come with their next album when it comes out next year.

Exclaim has details on the second of Gentleman Reg’s digital Leisure Life EPs, the second of which will be out on September 4. A track from it is available to stream courtesy of Ion.

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Oh my gawd!!! …The Flaming Lips are free for NXNE!

J. Michelle Martin-CoyneSo what are you doing June 16? Are you one of those so conditioned by years of Toronto Radiohead shows selling out in a heartbeat that you tripped over yourself getting tickets for their Downsview gig as soon as they went on sale, even though the new venue was over twice the size of the Amphitheatre and general admission? Or are you one of those conscious of the fact that this is a King Of Limbs tour and realistically speaking, they probably won’t be playing the stuff you like most and anyways that’s the day the reunited Archers Of Loaf are finally coming to town and there’s no place you’d rather be that night than The Phoenix? Or were you waiting to hear what NXNE had up their sleeves since that’s when the Yonge-Dundas Square mainstage traditionally hosts the biggest name of the fest playing for free? If you chose option c), then congratulations on wanting to make an informed decision. And I’m sorry to say that Radiohead is now sold out so all your strategizing was for naught.

But you’ve hardly lost out as NXNE finally announced their first batch of acts playing the festival this year, and the Saturday night mainstage headliners will be none other than The Flaming Lips. The Oklahoman psychedelic-rockers, last here in July 2010, will endeavour to transform Yonge-Dundas Square into a garish, technicolor assault on the senses… so pretty much what it is every day, but with a bubble walk. Kidding aside, it will be pretty exciting to see a lot of people who’ve presumably never seen the Lips perform (or even know who they are) witness one of the most ridiculous and entertaining live shows going. Laser hands! And hey – since Yonge-Dundas isn’t far from The Phoenix, you can technically do both The Lips and Archers Of Loaf. I will, anyways.

As for the other confirmed acts, there’s a pretty impressive collection of both buzz bands and veterans coming to Toronto the weekend of June 14 to 17 – certainly more than a few that I’ve either been waiting to see come to town or are quite curious about. And because I’m a big dork, as I’ve done the past coupleyears, I’ve tried to discern the when and where of as many showcases as possible based on tour routing, previous announcements, what have you. There’s not quite as much info floating around right now as in past years, but if you wanted to get a jump start on trying to resolve inevitable scheduling conflicts, it’s something. Of course, all of this is unconfirmed until the official schedule is unveiled and certainly subject to change – I’ll probably keep updating it until that happens, if just for my own reference – but my sources are credible.

The full list of announced acts – including those without a venue or exact date that I can pin down – can be grokked over here but definitely catching my eye are Rival Schools and Porcelain Raft (June 14 or 15). Not a bad start at all, lots more to come.

And speaking of The Flaming Lips, their Flaming Lips & Heady Fwends album is out this Saturday for Record Store Day – if you can get your hands on one – and Wayne Coyne talks about it to The Huffington Post. They’ve also released a video from it – NSFW, of course. Lips don’t do clothes.

Though Mark Kozelek has a habit of booking and then cancelling shows, he’s planning to be in Toronto at The Great Hall on October 3 to promote the new Sun Kil Moon record Among The Leaves, out May 29. Tickets are $20 in advance and refunds will be available at the point of purchase.

Exclaim reports that the second Guided By Voices album of 2012 – Class Clown Spots a UFO – will be out on June 21 and a third GBV album entitled Bears For Lunch should be out in November. Most prolific reunion ever?

That Nintendo-premiered new video from The Shins is finally available to watch online. They’re at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4 supporting The Black Keys.

Craig Finn tells Rolling Stone that The Hold Steady will begin work on a new record this Summer, but he’s not quite done with the solo thing yet – Paste has premiered a new video as part of a fundraising campaign for Big Brother/Big Sisters of America.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

NXNE 2009 day two featuring Coeur De Pirate, The Magic, Parallels and more

Frank YangJust before the start of NXNE, I was asked a few questions by The National Post for a festival preview piece along the lines of how NXNE differed from and was similar to SxSW. My answers were basically that there was no comparing the two, acronyms notwithstanding, as nothing anywhere really compares to SxSW in terms of scale and importance, but that in recent years NXNE has come a long way to being a worthy event in its own right. Friday evening, however, I got to experience a couple of shows that were quite reminiscent of March in Austin, both in the positive and negative sense.

To the former, there was an in-store set – the closest we’ve come to creating the massive day show culture of Sx – at Sunrise Records from Dark Mean. The Hamilton outfit is a relatively new one, but has already made an impression in someblogcircles – that’s where I first heard of them – and this unconventional showcase was their Toronto debut. They’d made a very good first impression via their Frankencottage EP, which they’re offering for free download on their website, and I was initially disappointed to not see them on the official NXNE lineup – this gig made up for it. Short as it is, the record is bubbling over with promise, pop at the core but not afraid to get its country on nor dabble in unconventional sounds or arrangements and delivered with a confidence lacking in much more veteran acts. Live, they seemed to need a little work. Though the band is ostensibly a trio, they’d augmented themselves into a 6-piece for this show, including keyboards and a second drummer and while the songs weren’t buried under the extra manpower, they didn’t really benefit all that much either. They also came across tamer than on record, perhaps out of consideration for the shoppers, building a sort of lower-key Whiskeytown vibe throughout. Certainly not a bad angle, but one that didn’t do them full justice. They will make their proper Toronto debut on July 18 at the Polish Combatants Hall – maybe some liquor will loosen them up.

The SxSW phenomenon I was less pleased to see surface at NXNE was the booking of an act getting an enormous amount of attention into a venue far to small to contain all those who’d want to see them play. In this case, Coeur De Pirate at the Dakota Tavern. The stage name of 20-year old Béatrice Martin from Montreal, Coeur had been slowly but steadily building buzz outside the Francophone circles but that seemed to hit a sort of critical mass when her debut self-titled album was named to the Polaris Prize long list earlier last week. That was certainly what finally got me off my duff and listening to the record, and like so many others, enchanted by it. It’s all in French, and thus I don’t understand about 95% of it, her evocative voice and the sprightly yet haunting piano-led arrangements ensure that the emotional heft is not lost in translation. Arriving at the club 20 minutes early proved to be not nearly enough as there was a lineup already and word was it wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon. Happily, I managed to get into the club just before show time – it helps to know people who know people – and was in position for this performance, her first ever in Toronto. Martin played as a two piece but all eyes and ears were on her, as she proved as beguiling live as on record and all disarming charm between songs. The only point at which the magic was dispelled was with the final song, a cover of the Katy Perry song which shall not be named – the rendition was fine but I can’t endorse any action that helps prolong her pop cultural reign of terror. That said, it may have been a bit of a hassle to get into the show, but it would have been worth it at twice the effort. It’s quite disappointing that at the moment, there’s no other Toronto shows on her tour schedule – an appearance at Hillside is as close as she’s coming – but if the stars align, perhaps I’ll see her perform again at the Polaris Prize ceremony.

I wasn’t done with the Francophones, heading next to Supermarket (or should that have been Supermarché?) to see Parlovr, currently promoting their debut self-title. Even if I hadn’t known the trio was from Montreal, I’d have been able to guess from their sound – an energetic and just slightly unhinged blend of pop, rock and new wave. It wasn’t a new sound, in fact it’s a sound that’s probably approaching dated (Shouting! Synths! Quirky!) but their execution – along with some damn funny stage banter – endeared themselves to me enough that I’ll wait for the next band to call someone out as stylistically unfashionable. BlogTO has an interview.

I don’t actually know why Dublin’s Kill Krinkle Club were on my schedule – the samples of twee-pop on their MySpace must have struck a chord or something. But I wrote them down and so hoofed it down to Holy Joe’s just in time to witness them start off with a spoken word piece – never a good sign. The first tune was strangely skeletal and tuneless, but as it turned out the keyboard wasn’t working so they took a mulligan and re-played their opening number with much better results, but not enough to count as compelling. I gave their set a few more songs, but just wasn’t in the mood for something this precious and decamped.

At this point I had a few options, all of which involved cross-town club hopping and none of which were particularly appealing so instead I took an hour off to hang out on a stoop with a friend, downing some Gatorade. I think I made the right choice.

By this point, I’d heard more than a few people expressing great excitement for the act slated for midnight at The Reverb, the Guelph-Toronto act simply named The Magic. Seeing as how I was already at the venue and intended to be there for 1AM, I gave them a go and was very pleasantly surprised. It’s tempting to describe them as a disco band but without any of the typically retro or kitschy accoutrement that usually go with that (aside from co-frontpersons Geordie Gordon and Sylvie Smith’s yacht-captain suit and silver glitter dress, respectively). What they were was fun, funky and superbly tight with enough trade-off between the male and female lead vocals to keep things varied. NOW has an interview.

And finally was Toronto’s Parallels, an outfit whose bio makes much of drummer Cameron Findlay’s tour of duty behind the kit for Crystal Castles but whose own tastes in electro-pop veer much more in the direction of New Order with some Yazoo in the mix. ’80s uber alles, in other words. That’s certainly a sound that’s been in heavy rotation around these parts lately, so I was somewhat let down that Parallels didn’t really do it for me. They sounded alright – the songs were alright and the use of live drums a big bonus in giving them some dynamicism, but I found their overall stage presence to be underwhelming and lacking personality. Singer/keyboardist Holly Dodson has a good voice and makes the effort at filling the frontperson role, but didn’t have the charisma to really succeed as a focal point for the show. When their set wrapped, I was more than happy to call it a night.

To call yesterday a good day for concert announcements would be a wee bit of an understatement. First off, was the reveal of a show I’ve pretty much been waiting for all year – Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Kool Haus on August 4. Those of you who have committed to the sit-rock of Fleet Foxes that night at Massey Hall have a tough decision to make, I understand. Me, I will hopefully be enjoying a double-shot of Karen O, catching her at Osheaga the preceding weekend and then this Toronto show. Tickets are $32.50, on sale Thursday. The Times has a feature piece on the band.

The Breeders will be at Lee’s Palace on August 15, tickets $23.50. I will admit I haven’t heard much of what they’ve done since reforming a few years back, but I’m pretty sure that “Cannonball” remains in their set list so that, right there, could be worth the price of admission.

Though they could surely play bigger rooms, The Hold Steady like the sweaty little ones so it’s going to be a several degrees past insane when they wrap up their just-announced cross-Canada tour with a September 27 date at Lee’s Palace. Tickets are $21.50 and go on sale this Thursday, though a presale goes today at 10AM with the password “POSITIVE”.

But the cosmos cannot exist without checks and balances, so I sadly have to report that it seems the Elbow show at the Phoenix, originally unofficially announced for July 29, does not appear to be happening after all. Don’t blame me, blame Letterman.

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Mason HastieIf there’s one thing I learned from being on the Grand Jury for last year’s Polaris Prize, it’s that the duties of being a regular jurist are far, far, far, far less stressful. There’s a real burden of responsibility when you’re one of the 11 whose duty it is to choose Canada’s “best album of the year”, forcing you to consider each nominee on the short list objectively, checking as much as possible personal biases towards genre, personality, history, whatever. It’s a lot of work.

And while in theory, the regular jury is supposed to apply that same criteria to their ballots, but it’s more of a free-for-all, some choosing to vote strategically to try and get lesser-known acts some exposure, others opting to ignore more commercially successful artists (though that’s probably the same thing). I took the same approach as in past years – essentially a combination of 85% personal favourites and 15% critical merit – and went with the following picks and rationale:

2) Land Of Talk / Some Are Lakes
– I’d originally pegged this as a bit of a disappointment as it didn’t have the same buzzsaw intensity as their debut EP, but in time I’ve realized that the restraint and nuance of the full-length reveals them to be a much more sophisticated band than you might have originally expected. And it still kicks hard when it needs to.

3) Rae Spoon / Superioryouareinferior
– The latecomer, dark horse, call it what you will, I’ve explained how this record from an artist completely unknown to me prior to a few months ago quickly became one whose melodies and emotional content would come to haunt the corners of my brain.

4) Bruce Peninsula / A Mountain Is A Mouth
– That the recorded artifact even comes close to capturing the intensity of the live Bruce Peninsula experience should earn it some sort of prize. That it dropped a couple of spots where I might have placed it a few months ago is more testament to the quality of the competition than a slight on the record itself.

5) Metric / Fantasies
– This one might surprise some people who know I’m not even remotely a rabid Metric fan, but I’d be lying if I said that Fantasies didn’t have some of the best hooks and choruses of any record from any country this year. Spinner.ca, North Country Times and Decider have features.

And to my surprise, all five of my picks made the official long list, announced yesterday, which means that not only can I rest easy knowing that my tastes broadly align with the rest of Canada’s music critics (or maybe I should despair of that?) but that I now no longer need to do anything between now and the official ceremony in late September, when I will have to help myself to cheese and crackers. The short list of ten finalists will be unveiled on July 7, and I’m not going to speculate as to how many of the above choices will still be standing when the dust settles there. Hopefully at least a couple, so I have someone to root for.

I don’t know if the timing of the Polaris long list announcement was deliberately set to coincide with the start of NXNE this week, but it certainly makes my segue easier. I took an early pass at the lineup a while back, and now that the schedule has mostly worked itself out, my picks for the week are becoming somewhat clearer. Each night would seem to have what I’ll call an “anchor” act for me to either plan around or use as a starting point for the evening. Thursday night at 10PM at Neutral for Austin’s Ume, Friday at the Dakota at 8PM for Coeur De Pirate, with whom Singing Lamb has an interview, and Saturday at the Horseshoe, 9PM, for the aforementioned Woodpigeon.

With Coeur De Pirate being an early show, Friday is kind of wide open. Will almost certainly hit up Parlovr at Supermarket at 9, hope Swedes via Ireland Kill Krinkle Club are better than their name at Holy Joe’s for 10 and if not, there’s The Superstitions playing just downstairs at the Reverb. The UK’s Koogaphone have piqued my interest for 11PM – they’re upstairs at the El Mocambo – and seeing as how I’ve meant to see Provincial Parks for some time now, midnight at Rancho Relaxo seems as good an opportunity as any. 1AM will probably send me back to the Reverb for Parallels, though having The Sadies at the El Mocambo at the same time is about as sure a bet as you can get.

Saturday starts at the Horseshoe for Woodpigeon, and while staying at the ‘Shoe for NXNE for the stacked CBC-sponsored lineups is always an option, I will likely head to Bread & Circus to see Caledonia – though they didn’t make the long list, they got some substantial last-minute Polaris nomination buzz. Speaking of buzz, Band Of Skulls is getting enough that I’ll likely check them out at the El Mocambo but staying at Bread & Circus – with their lovely bright lights – for Olenka & The Autumn Lovers is also an option. Post-midnight is still entirely up in the air – suggestions are welcome, though they’d have to compete against the “go home and go to sleep” option, which is always a compelling one.

As mentioned before, Ohbijou are doing an in-store at Soundscapes on Wednesday, June 17 at 7PM to mark the release of Beacons, a record you can probably expect to see me talking about when I do my Polaris Prize writeup for 2010. They talk to CBC Radio 3 and The National Post about the new album. They’ll also do a full show at the Opera House on June 25 – still have passes and prizes to give away for that.

Someone obviously thinks I need to visit Montreal again. Today, Pop Montreal, taking place September 30 to October 4, revealed their initial lineup and as rumoured, the list includes the likes of Dinosaur Jr, Chairlift, Destroyer and the Dalai Lama (what?) – all fine acts, but their presence in Montreal almost certainly augurs a trip down the 401 to Toronto within a day or two. But more compelling is the addition to Osheaga (August 1 and 2) of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. When the initial lineup was announced and it was obvious they were importing chunks of All Points West’s roster wholesale, I bemoaned the fact that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs weren’t among them. Well apparently it was just a matter of time, because now with them and Elbow performing along with The Decemberists and Lykke Li amongst a host of others – and the fact that until V gets their act together and gives me a reason to head up to Orillia – 2009 is looking festival-free and that simply will not do.